How Black artists helped make country music what it is today

How Black artists helped make country music what it is today


Artists like Beyonce and Lil Nas X are drawing mainstream attention to a tradition that is alive and well—thanks to the contributions and innovations of generations of Black musicians.

“It’s awakened such a discussion,” says Royster, an English professor at DePaul University and author of the 2022 book Black Country Music. “Students, friends, old friends from college have been calling, wanting to talk about this topic that, for a long time, has felt like a closet obsession.”

While many contemporary music listeners’ first experience with Black country music came with Lil’ Nas X’s 2018 “country-trap” novelty hit “Old Town Road,” Black folks have been writing, performing, and recording country music since it first became popular in the 1920s. In fact, country music wouldn’t exist as it does today without the contributions and innovations of Black musicians.

“One of the biggest lies this nation has ever told is that Black people are not country,” wrote culture critic Taylor Crumpton in the days following Beyoncé’s announcement. “Black people have always lived in the country. It is where we prayed. It is where we sang. It is where we worshiped.”


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